I just got back from two days of fishing Lake Wenatchee with my wife JoAnn. I will admit, after our outstanding trip to Baker Lake last week I was a bit ambivalent about fishing Lake Wentachee. There was no need to be.

We arrived Sunday around 6pm and launched our boat at the State Park. Most of the crazy traffic was gone so it was an easy two truck wait and we were on the water. We opted to just pay for two nights camping spot so we had a place to leave our rig, and then motored over to the far (west) end of the lake. We did fish for about an hour and a half but had to takers.

Monday morning I awoke and got us under way by 5am. The fleet was already approaching from the east. For the trip we ran four rods, stacking, and spaced our depths from 25 to 65 feet deep. Dodgers and sling blades, with either bare hooks or maybe a smile blade and a pink hoochie on the working end. It was “Old School” Lake Washington style, bare hooks were definitely producing well over the two days. One thing that really helps - and thanks to kokanee1 for sharing the tip – short leaders, 12” max. It definitely made a difference over the two days.

Back to Monday… our first couple hours were filled with frustration. First sockeye – tail hooked. Second fish – a nice 3 pound Dolly… then a string of 5 lost fish. The barbless rule means (at least for us and most I spoke with) about a 40-50% lost fish ratio, which is pretty frustrating. That said, there are SO many opportunities, way more than at Baker Lake. Which makes sense because there is a TON of fish in Lake Wenatchee! My fish finder was never without fish, from halfway up the lake to the orange markers the lake is stuffed with sockeye! The boats were out, but not too bad. I would estimate about 100 or so.

Our morning’s frustrations slowly worked out as we began to get fish actually into the boat. By noon we had 5 fish and ran back to the park for lunch and ice cream. Certainly, there are some advantages to having civilization close by! After lunch we again trolled our way from half way up the lake to the end, only ending at 6pm as the wind got just to annoying to fight and frankly, I was tired. But the afternoon bite was really pretty good, as we added three more to the cooler, for a total of eight on our first day.

Lessons learned, we retired to our anchorage for dinner, a movie, and bed. A very relaxing evening indeed.

Tuesday we started again at five AM and the bite was on from the get-go. We saw a pretty good number of fish caught and got a couple ourselves, then had a bit of a lull. Then, slowly, steadily, the fish started coming in to the boat. Our counts went ever higher to that magical “limit” of 12 for the two of us. 11:40, time running out, another “Fish On!”. JoAnn plays the fish but sad to say it gets off. No limits this day, but an amazing 11 sockeye for Day 2.

Our trolling speeds averaged from 0.8 to 1.3. We caught fish at all speeds. BTW, just to mention, we saw a "local" boat just killing them on Tuesday morning. And they were fishing 5 rods with dodgers, bare hooks, and banana weights, maybe 3-4 oz? And trolling fast, at least 1.3-1.4mph. Totally different approach from everyone else using downriggers, and they did amazingly well.

Now to compare Baker to Wenatchee sockeye. First, size. Baker is a clear winner. The fish easily are twice the weight. Baker averaging 4-7 with up to 10, while Wenatchee run barely 3 pounds and maybe a 4 pounder now and again. Quality – Baker are generally chrome to 50% chrome. Wenatchee are maybe 20% chrome to dull transition color. Flesh – Baker is deep red, Wenatchee not quite so much. Taste – can’t say yet, but the Wenatchee fish had pretty firm flesh and I’m going to guess that they will taste just fine. Baker – off the charts, best salmon I’ve ever had. Fight – well, I will say the 3 pound Wenatchee fish gave a good pull, but you can’t beat a Baker Lake sockeye when they go airborne 5 feet out of the water. Ambience – Baker wins for scenery, Wenatchee wins for creature comforts. Launches – Baker, hands down. I feel sorry for anyone that has to deal with a weekend launch on Wenatchee. Highly recommend you have a lot of patience stored up! Fishing Action – Wentachee is UNREAL! This year of course is a record return, but let’s get serious. At Baker you may have a few to half a dozen shots at fish, and lot’s of people being skunked. Wenatchee meanwhile is pretty steady action, even into the afternoon. Lot’s of people hooking fish, having fun, getting action. So either lake has it’s special draw, decide what’s most important to you.

JoAnn keeps records of all our fishing action. Here’s our two day fishing log:

MONDAY:
5:35 – 35 ft, snagged in tail.
6:30 – 55 ft, dolly, released
6:35 50ft, lost
7:10 – 50 ft, lost
8:25 – 55 ft, lost
9:25 – 39 ft, lost
9:43 – 40 ft, lost
9:50 – 40 ft,. caught
10:08 – 45 ft, drive by bite
10:55 – 60 ft, caught
11:22 – 60 ft, caught
12:00 – 60 ft, caught
12:25 – 60 ft, caught
2:55 – 50 ft, lost
3:05 – 60 ft, caught
3:10 – 50 ft and 60 ft, Double, caught
5:40 – 50 ft, lost

TUESDAY:
5:45 – 35 ft, lost
5:55 – 35 ft, caught
6:00 -50 ft, snagged, released.
7:10 – 55 ft, lost
7:28 -40 ft, caught
7:40 – 40 ft, drive by bite
7:50 – 65 ft, caught
8:05 – 65 ft, caught
8:55 – 65 ft, caught
9:25 – 55 ft, lost
9:40 – 55 ft, caught
10:35 – 45 ft, caught
10:47 – 40 ft, caught
11:13 – 40 ft, caught
11:25 – 55 ft, caught
11:35 – 55 ft, caught
11:41 – 40 lost.

Total for two days – 8 on Monday, 11 on Tuesday, 19 fish.

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